The Albuquerque Stripper - Who says a Mustang can't land a kickflip?

[ice445]

Did a little work on her appearance, newer splitter made out of birch, trying my hand at wrapping for the 2nd time, and after running a 1:46.7 last year, curious what one year of driving the more or less same car would do... and apparently 1:44.5 is the answer, a huge improvement.



Good enough for 1st in my class, and 1st overall. To those of you who've been reading this from the start, I've on so many occasions said how much I'd love to have just one day go my way, and so Sunday's morning session happened to be that session, just in time for my birthday.

Some of you have pointed that the clutch is slipping on the 3/4 shift and you're right. Time to learn how to swap out a clutch before the next event, I guess.

Pretty good for a BASE GT if i do say so haha

Sponsored

 

[PaddyPrix]

Pretty good for a BASE GT if i do say so haha

Some people say "drive it like you stole it," but true to form, I drive it like somebody else stole it.

 

[ice445]

Some people say "drive it like you stole it," but true to form, I drive it like somebody else stole it.

I mean it helps that you're a very skilled driver. Have you thought about trying to get sponsored and do some higher level W2W racing? I'm sure you've impressed at least a few people out there so far...

 

[PaddyPrix]

I mean it helps that you're a very skilled driver. Have you thought about trying to get sponsored and do some higher level W2W racing? I'm sure you've impressed at least a few people out there so far...

Actually it's what I've been building it for, doing TT to learn the courses, build some experience, and compare myself to my future competition on the same day, same conditions. It's fun, but a slightly different challenge especially in our heat out here. You really need to hit a home run in your first session, maybe your second, because 3rd and 4th are usually around lunchtime and afternoon when the heat is up considerably. Since it's time vs. time, your day is kinda done because the conditions make it increasingly difficult to improve. Compared to w2w, where it's a warmup, practice, qual, and race, and while the temperatures go up, everybody is suffering equally, sure, but whoever finishes first... finishes first, wgaf what the time is if it's good enough to win.

Harsh reality is that there isn't much money in amateur racing, because sponsors probably don't see much of a return on their investments. I'm not going to make a very good pitchman for toothpaste, because I don't show my face, and I don't brush my teeth.

Some people dream of success, while you're gonna wake up hard and work hard at it -- nothing is impossible.
You should get to the point where anyone else would quit, and you're not going to stop there.
No, what are you waiting for?
Do it -- Just do it.

I honestly don't know how to do anything I do, I just pick it up, accept my failures and flaws, and do my best to measure and learn from my mistakes. I've been nothing but brutally honest and transparent this whole time and not going to stop anytime soon, and I can do it, so can you -- team Shia all the way.

 

[PaddyPrix]

What a difference that a year (and a half) can make!



What better way to celebrate the birthday of our beloved Ford Mustang than with a 1st in class, 2nd overall at Buttonwillow, setting a personal best of 1:54.439. Don't know if I can trust the predictive, but it said I had another whole second up until the last turn out of Sunrise. What I can trust, is now that this is the 2nd event where everything just felt really nice, smooth, and really happy where I've got it dialed in. Being the superstitious person I am, yes, that is a vinyl moustache on my visor, and yes, I have a real one underneath. What started out as a dumb April Fool's joke is going to continue on until disaster strikes again. Trust me, it annoys and irritates me equally as much as it does you.

Story time?

Perhaps this is why some people asking for advice on the next mod or part, some people answer with "seat time." Taking a quick trip down memory lane, my last time in that configuration was October 2020, my first and last NASA weekend in HPDE 4. It was also the same weekend that I somehow snapped the outer ring off of my flywheel, which spun all around my transmission bellhousing, and in doing so, also ended up grinding my starter's teeth down to the rod. I had run a best of 2:04.5 that weekend, and met a bunch of people that have also continued on their development since then, like Carlos who won a Honda Challenge race, or Andy who was on my tail in his roided out TT3 Miata. For the Albuquerque Stripper, not much has really changed since then, a few sets of tires, my woodworking skills (or not), but yeah... other than replacing parts that broke, that's pretty much it. If you had told me that the next time out I'd be hot on the tail of a Norma M20 FC, I'd definitely ask for what you're smoking.

But I would not inhale.

I very much like this CCW 13 layout, which seems to really reward smooth transitions and good rhythm sections for almost half the course. Buttonwillow is unique as that every corner is a different corner type (http://buttonwillowraceway.com/track-info/track-maps/), and very few are repeated, so it's a nice benchmark to see how you can read lines, courses, and handle yourself, so, I guess 10+ seconds faster since last time, I guess the answer is at least slightly better.

 

[ice445]

What a difference that a year (and a half) can make!



What better way to celebrate the birthday of our beloved Ford Mustang than with a 1st in class, 2nd overall at Buttonwillow, setting a personal best of 1:54.439. Don't know if I can trust the predictive, but it said I had another whole second up until the last turn out of Sunrise. What I can trust, is now that this is the 2nd event where everything just felt really nice, smooth, and really happy where I've got it dialed in. Being the superstitious person I am, yes, that is a vinyl moustache on my visor, and yes, I have a real one underneath. What started out as a dumb April Fool's joke is going to continue on until disaster strikes again. Trust me, it annoys and irritates me equally as much as it does you.

Story time?

Perhaps this is why some people asking for advice on the next mod or part, some people answer with "seat time." Taking a quick trip down memory lane, my last time in that configuration was October 2020, my first and last NASA weekend in HPDE 4. It was also the same weekend that I somehow snapped the outer ring off of my flywheel, which spun all around my transmission bellhousing, and in doing so, also ended up grinding my starter's teeth down to the rod. I had run a best of 2:04.5 that weekend, and met a bunch of people that have also continued on their development since then, like Carlos who won a Honda Challenge race, or Andy who was on my tail in his roided out TT3 Miata. For the Albuquerque Stripper, not much has really changed since then, a few sets of tires, my woodworking skills (or not), but yeah... other than replacing parts that broke, that's pretty much it. If you had told me that the next time out I'd be hot on the tail of a Norma M20 FC, I'd definitely ask for what you're smoking.

But I would not inhale.

I very much like this CCW 13 layout, which seems to really reward smooth transitions and good rhythm sections for almost half the course. Buttonwillow is unique as that every corner is a different corner type (http://buttonwillowraceway.com/track-info/track-maps/), and very few are repeated, so it's a nice benchmark to see how you can read lines, courses, and handle yourself, so, I guess 10+ seconds faster since last time, I guess the answer is at least slightly better.

Damn man, you really impress me. Has anyone come up and been baffled at how you're doing so well with a fairly mild car? Could almost call it "kinda stock".

 

[PaddyPrix]

Damn man, you really impress me. Has anyone come up and been baffled at how you're doing so well with a fairly mild car? Could almost call it "kinda stock".

Heh, funny you say that. One of the guys I've been competing with the whole time has been noticing as well. In fact, that one event I did as HPDE4, I checked out his yellow C5 Corvette, which is a TT1 car, a class above mine, so they have some combo of less weight and more power, and I was complementing him on his car, which had a cool livery with the Joker on it. Saying I couldn't wait to join the ranks and give chase to them. As I returned back from the morning instructors meeting, I see somebody on all fours checking underneath the home depot splitter on the front, and I say something stupid and self deprecating (or self defecating? ) and as he stands up and turns around, it's the very same guy from back then, and as we talk about the plastic edging/gating, he's like, I can't believe this is the same car, and brought up our conversation from back then. Turns out he used to race a Terminator back in the day, and was one of the few smart enough to build a proper cooling and aero system to keep it on the track where it'd just up and abuse everything. I caught him between sessions, and he said something like everybody on the observation deck was cheering me on, thinking I was going to pull that prototype, which ... well, the first flying lap almost looked like it, huh?

(Granted, that little car weighing 1200#, a third of what we do needs to work harder to put heat into the tires and was probably doing another full lap to get up to speed -- https://www.auroramotorsports.com/?url=normam20fc)

 

[PaddyPrix]

So busy of late, but hello blog of blogs, some new things since we last spoke. With the transmission out, and clutch being a weak point, I had reached out to Mantic and got my hands on a twin-disc ceremetallic clutch and aluminum flywheel. I think this'll be a nice upgrade over the organic material that the stock clutch is made out of, and while it's okay for driving around town and whatnot, just the constant shifting, power, and temps that we're doing are just too much for it.

That stock is heavy AF

Know what isn't? Yeah, the new stuff. Biggest difference is the flywheel, shedding like 16 pounds from the stock version.

I want to say this was something like 32.4# cutting nearly 30 pounds from the rotating mass, plus the much quicker and firmer engagement. They said 12-15% more effort, but that's something I didn't even feel or notice, nothing like the pre-hydraulic days, where on some heavy duty clutches I had to press down on the knee to assist, and a rush hour traffic run was enough to skip leg-day for the month.

I like how they've got a billet steel pressure plate lid, instead of the stamped steel you see in the stock, and still even in some of the aftermarket assemblies. Got the torque spec right, measured all the distances and slapped the transmission back in to go break it in at Willow Springs. Didn't do anything too crazy, kept the RPMs to like 5-6k, didn't go full WOT, and did like 30-40 laps, building it up and backing it off, a few cooldowns in the pit, but unfortunately found out my scrubs went super hard in the like year I had them stored, something like 85-90 out and they were ice cold hard plastic slipping all over the place.

You wouldn't believe how big some of the elevation changes are until you really get a chance to track walk, like here's T1 of Big Willow. I'm not at the Apex, and they're not at the edge, but sheesh, makes me regret all those times I'd heavily brake when I could just scrub more of it off with the elevation change.

Same thing for T2, much more banked and elevated than you'd expect.

Turned out to be a weekend of ups and downs, I guess.

Saturday's morning session was an interesting one, with that unfortunately one of our friends I was trying to egg along gave into my pestering, and that if he didn't have a Dyno or Weight, he could still run TTU for the day, perhaps dyno there to figure out the rest. We went out to grid and I was right after him, and as we were just finishing the out/parade lap, I was setting up to make the pass into T1, and huge clouds of white smoke fired out, and he blew his motor right there, throwing oil all over the T1 brakezone, narrowly avoided the wall, and the cleanup and extraction required a full course black which ended up putting the session over. Since the majority hadn't even had the opportunity to cross the start-finish, our gridding was pretty much cancelled and delayed, so that the 2nd session which is usually the best Saturday shot with 3+4 being in heat would also end up being somewhat open gridding.

With the gift of gab coming back to bite me, I spent too long talking to my student, and lost track of time, ran back across the pit to my car, and was about halfway through the fast line. Some nicely recognized me and gave out some parade lap point-bys, but not enough, so looks like a whole session in traffic, I guess they're going to suffer equally.

So, we had something of a qualifying race, I guess.



Since I was the only one in TT2, it didn't really matter how I did. With my A7 now at 10+ heat cycles, I could feel the lateral grip not there, and anything not done smoothly would dance the end around, so I was just trying to be careful and save something for Sunday as well. Still a bunch of fun figuring out what speeds others do in turns, and where these put power down. I'm going to assume everybody else was pushing it 9-10/10ths, I was just a smidge lower. Nothing fancy, something like a 1:32 would put me like 6th overall, and I'd spend the rest of the day instructing and keeping cool.

Sunday rolled around and seems some others went out 3rd and 4th sessions in the heat, and used that opportunity to increase their times and put me down to like 10th for Saturday. Wasn't entirely cool for the first, right around 80 degrees out for our 8am run.



Still pulled out a 1:28.7 near the end, which was good enough for 3rd overall. Definitely still playing with my gearing and shift points, you can hear me redlining the hell out of things when I should just be happy with the lug if I'm still building speed. Seems the speeds I do in turns are so close to the redline, like T2 ~100 which is top of my 3rd, T8 is 135-140 which is top of my 4th. I'll get it eventually, but man, an extra gear in-between would be nice. Might be worth investigating if there are alternative gear sets for the MT82-D4 that I've got out of the car, who knows, maybe even a beefed up MT82 with a 5th 1:1? Never ever touched 6th in mine, don't know if I would outside of an F1 track.

Anyhow, much different season with not much competition, I think I've already locked up the SoCal TT2 title with some hollow victories, so kinda thinking what's the point? ST2 has been 3-4 cars of late, TT3 is 4-5 which I guess I could pop on something like Toyo RR and some weight and try to win some free tires. I guess I could spend some time and start playing with the tune and try to pull throttle and make a super flat tune to put me at like 450rwhp (currently 470rwhp) which would be class limit at a 3605 race weight. Who knows. The race groups right after do show that my time is certainly on the podium, so perhaps getting in there and tailgating them might do me even more good, certainly trying to fight off my friends in 944 trying to egg me into something with 1/3 the power. As if!

I don't know, summer break coming up, almost too hot to run down here, plenty of time to think. Nationals still up in the air, perhaps word of my invite would change my mood or thinking, not going to hold my breath though, if it does, it does. It'd be nice, but I'd be out of my mind if I thought I had a legitimate shot at winning, especially since the two assholes I usually tailgate are already going, and they've done it a handful of times to my 1 day.

First world problems, I know.

Get it? First?

 

[fast306stang]

Love your posts, you have a gift for sure!

 

[PaddyPrix]

Love your posts, you have a gift for sure!

Well, I certainly appreciate it. If even just one post is enough to get somebody up and off their butt to make their way down the path of financially inexcusable and wholly wasteful spending, I would have to count this whole project as a success.

 

[2morrow]

Well, I certainly appreciate it. If even just one post is enough to get somebody up and off their butt to make their way down the path of financially incorrect and completely wasteful spending, I would have to count this whole project as a success.

lol, so much truth to this

 

[PaddyPrix]

Just sayin, this guy has a girlfriend that is way too hot for him.



(Actually, that goes for just about all of us, right?)

 

[PaddyPrix]

I haven't posted here in a month, but the other friday, the heavens had opened up for just a few minutes, and some high squeaky high-pitched voice said, "Let thine dickhead into thy championships!"

and it was so.

and so it was.

those of you who read or follow NASA, you'll see those names and realize, holy crap, that TT2 class is loaded, and I guess we'll find out in September if somebody who looks a lot like me can build a nationally competitive car with a small/no budget and if I can do it, what's stopping you?

crazy to think that just 2 years ago, I was some idiot who was happy that just getting the car onto the track to complete laps without breaking, but boy howdy, break we did, huh?

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...te-8000-nasa-tt2-race-car.136348/post-2930196

fatto degli amici, killed a transmission, caught fire, won a few events -- like, overall, and even a regional championship or two. not sure if this september will be her last TT2 event, but here's hoping we can finish in the top 10, that'd be nice.

 

[Cobra Jet]

You just keep getting better and better - and the tech you have posted with every update, plus your writing style is awesome, on point and at times definitely humorous.

Have you considered Optic Armor Lexan replacement windows over the glass for more weight savings?

Watson did a great tech install write up here (the Optic links in their write up are bad links):
https://www.watsonracing.com/2015-mustang-lightweight-windows/

Here’s the Optic Armor site for S550 Lexan windows:
http://www.opticarmorwindows.com/applications-drop-in-black-outs-details.asp?short_description=Mustang 2015 to Present&manufacturer=Ford

 

[PaddyPrix]

You just keep getting better and better - and the tech you have posted with every update, plus your writing style is awesome, on point and at times definitely humorous.

Have you considered Optic Armor Lexan replacement windows over the glass for more weight savings?

Watson did a great tech install write up here (the Optic links in their write up are bad links):
https://www.watsonracing.com/2015-mustang-lightweight-windows/

Here’s the Optic Armor site for S550 Lexan windows:
http://www.opticarmorwindows.com/applications-drop-in-black-outs-details.asp?short_description=Mustang 2015 to Present&manufacturer=Ford

I appreciate the kind words, thanks.

I have most definitely considered their stuff, checked out the prices, and heh, even drove to Home Depot to check out some of their material. Dunno if you've seen any of my in-car vids, but I've got a decent crack from end to end, but there's nothing in the rules that say your windshield has to be spotless, or what a crack that is too much, etc, etc, but they kinda touch on non-glass materials because they don't hold up as well. and I believe break into chunks, although, I'd guess OA probably doesn't.

So then that goes to my challenging and fun problem there is that I'm actually right up near the end of where my class limitations are. Without me in the car, it's about 3380 with 1/4 fuel, and I'm like 6'2 225, which puts me at my 3605 minimum weight. NASA Time Trial (TT) and Super Touring (ST) are open, or builder classes, so we're bound by power/weight and whatever mod bonuses (tiny tires, FWD) or penalties (slicks, AWD, sequential) and so with her at 470rwhp, we come out to 7.67:1. In NASA, the classes are spread by 2, (so 6:1 = 1, 8:1 = 2, 10:1 =3, etc) and so because I'm such a heavy pig, I get a -0.4 mod bonus which means I can go as low as 7.67 (3605/470) is "really" 8.07. When exiting the track, we're trapped in impound and have to scale, unless you want your times to not count, but sometimes you're still forced, but depending on the course, I usually come off at 3620. If I run a high speed NASCAR track like ACS, I have to actually run at full fuel, because the G's we pull on the banks will actually starve the fuel pump pickup, which is crazy, but so is 150+ sideways. Anyhow, even if I had it to 3605 perfectly at the scale, my max hp is then 474rwhp, which 470 is damn close to, and accounts for dyno blips and whatnot, and I dyno'd last year at 469, and 470 this year, so I'm consistently there and not sure what an extra 4rwhp would do for me.

LOL 1-8-7 on a mutha fuckin lot...

But yeah, I'm definitely with you, I need to lighten up the load, I'm 600-1000# heavier than the rest. Plenty of difficult competition there, and you'll notice friggin factory race car Audi RS3's, GT3 Cup, every BMW M car, even a fancy Manthey Racing 718 GT4... and then my big piece of shit in 4 colors with a wooden splitter

Guess that means I'm going to have to do the math and work with a tuner (or learn myself since none of them EVER. FUCKING. RETURN EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS.) to take advantage of the electric throttle and pull it out at certain RPMs while I've still got the foot down.

Playing with my setup, If I drop 100 (75 from the car, 25 from me) that means I have to take 15rwhp which I think is doable. That, or drop down to 275mm tires from the 315 that I currently am on, but ... that's a lot to give up for something so wide like an s550.

3405 is what the s197 TT2 racers usually declare, which I don't think I can achieve. As it is, if you think the IRS is 200#, then my 3605 is pretty much the same as a s197 solid axle at 3405.

So yeah, I'm in a real fork right now, here's hoping Nats will help me find some answers. I don't think that the Stripper and I are nationally competitive, and I guess we'll find out. In a way, if I finish dead last, I'm okay with that, it'd be the answer I needed.

In all likelihood, I'll probably actually add some weight back on, and drop down to TT3 with some Toyo RR tires. They're not the fastest, but the TT3 class is decently popular in SoCal, and more importantly, there are enough that the winner will get free tires, which stretch my budget a bunch. I usually beat the SoCal TT3 by 5-7 seconds, so if I lose 2 seconds going to Toyo RR, I'm still liking my chances.

The TT1 in our region is also populous, I might be the one pushing them into free tire territory as well, and I'm already beating them in TT2 trim, so less weight and more power would be fun, but I don't have the budget to engage in the arms race that it is on a national level, where it's pretty much TransAm cars or prototypes that make tasteful mods to just fall out of the Unlimited category.

NASA was gracious enough to also let me instruct, which goes a long way, where they cover my entry fees if I'm willing to put my life on the line with HPDE1 students, and they do a bunch of planning on the scheduling so that TT drivers can get through impound and scale, make a drivers meeting, and catch the HPDE1+2 in time for their in-car ridealongs. In fact you can tell who is a TT driver, because after they get out, we're usually running back to our car to prep for the next session. I have my helmet on me all day long.

Anyhow, my real burning desire inside is to make that transition over to Super Touring and run fuckers off the road, but then doing so means that I can't instruct, so my costs go back up, and the popular groups here are ST2 (same as the TT2, 8:1) and ST4 (12:1), so if I played with the car much more than it is, I'd likely be the ST1 or ST3 champ by default, which is cool standing on a podium all by yourself, but you're really more of a jerk out there, interfering with other people's races more often than not. (and actually, they changed the rules that mean if you're like the only one with a car or class, they really won't count, so showing up in a Spec 350z in a region where nobody does it, well, no points for you.)

I dunno, it's a big wait and see right now, and I know I'm not the only one in this situation, Alessandro is probably the same boat with the NorCal chapter kinda having nobody competitive, prototypes or old e30's, 944's, or Miatas.

https://nasaspeed.news/race-coverage/championships/the-ones-to-watch-at-the-2022-nasa-championships/

Is Miata the answer? I dunno. Perhaps, I mean, what other car can have a set of tires last almost whole season? Even if they don't, they're what, $200 each? That's a lot nicer than the $500 you're looking at for a Hoosier. Plus, running nearly the same exact car with 20-25 people would certainly make for some fun, and much better definitively answer the "how good am I?" question rather definitively.

If this post gave you no answers and confused you even more than before you started reading... well, good. Welcome to our world, turn the lights off on your way out

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